EARLY LIFE. 25

monthly calendar, with its wonderful com-
ments, gave the page or two that remained
to anecdotes, poetry, and miscellaneous lit-
erature. The calendar was headed by verse,
which was taken usually from English au-
thors of the time, and sometimes was treated
serially. Thus in one almanac the poem of
" Porsenna in pursuit of the Kingdom of
Felicity " trails along the head of the twelve
months, and at the end is announced to be
continued next year; next year it starts on
its journey again, and overflows upon one of
the extra pages, but still is unfinished; a
third year it makes a desperate effort to come
to an end, but the editor is obliged to an-
nounce, " Conclusion omitted this year for
want of room;" and only when a fourth
year has come is he able to get rid of this
continued poem. Think of the impatience
of readers who had to wait from year to
year for four years before they could finish
reading this work of art! As the years
of the war drew near, the contents of these
little books took on a more martial charac-
ter, and the poetical feuilleton gave place
to a military chronicle.

Jejune enough do these hints seem to